In the
world of audio, there are quite a few digital audio workstations (DAWs) to
choose from. However, unless you are set
on making phat beats with FL Studio, then you are aware that the two biggest
players in the DAW world are Apple’s Logic Pro, and Avid’s Pro Tools. With the onset of Pro
Tools turning things up to eleven, and more unconfirmed rumors about Logic Pro 10, it’s only appropriate to
visit the Ford VS Chevy battle of the audio world: Logic VS Pro Tools.

Share this blog for cheesy blue explosive versus pictures!

Currently,
Apple is on its long running Logic Pro 9.
Avid’s Pro Tools is currently on version 10, but is to be rolling out
version 11 in the near future (Pro Tools 10 will be used for comparison unless
stated otherwise). Both are quite
popular in the industry. Which one is
best? This can seem like a loaded
question, unfair, or inapplicable to some.
GearSlutz
has a heated forum thread about this.
There are simply certain things that each does better than the other.

MIDI

Let’s
take music composition and MIDI into account.
Logic, in my opinion, is a much better platform for this. Out of the box, Logic has better sounding
virtual instruments that seem to be much more user friendly to manipulate and
tweak. Quantization is easy to get
right, instrument selection is vast, and individual note manipulation seems
easier. The few times I worked with the built
in MIDI in Pro Tools, I felt an 80s synthesizer could sound better.

Basic Recording

Sometimes
you may just want to record audio into one of these DAWs with a
microphone. They both do this very
well. They both seem to have one extra
step that slows things down. In Pro
Tools, you have to physically set everything up in the I/O setup. There is nothing wrong with this. If anything, it’s better because it allows
the user complete control. For Logic,
the step I have been annoyed by is the fact that the metronome is automatically
on when you first record. Again, nothing
big.

This
big factor is an interface. Logic seems
to be fairer to those who are budget minded.
Even if you have a cheap USB microphone, or a TRS mic with a preamp, you
can’t use it in Pro Tools without an interface.
With Logic, you just plug it into your computer, and you’re good to
go. Now, there is nothing wrong with needing
an interface, but for those who can’t really afford an interface right away,
this can be a deciding factor.

Advanced (Session) Recording

Now
if you have an interface and multiple microphones, Pro Tools is the hands down
winner. Set up your tracks, arm them,
and press your numeric three, and you’re good to go. Recording a large multi-track session is just
something Pro Tools will get right every time.
Miss something in the recording? Nudge
the playhead back, and press three again.
Which brings me to the next point…

Keyboard Use

Both
DAWs make use of keyboard shortcuts. I think
the Pro Tools’ keyboard shortcuts are laid out much better. It is unbelievably easy and crazy how fast
you can get around in Pro Tools if you know the key commands. Logic is a bit behind on this. However, you can fly around on either just as
fast as the other with practice. Still, Pro
Tools wins.

Sound Editing

Pro
Tools again is a winner here. Is again
comes down to the ease of navigation and sample accurate capabilities. I really love the nudge feature. When I attempt to do sound effect editing (or
audio editing in general) in Logic, I find myself guessing where I should cut
something. It seems when you zoom into a
track in Logic, things get even more confusing to look at then the rounded
corner tracks you see when you zoom out.
With Pro Tools, you get a box of a track, and when you zoom in, you can
see that exact sample you are on. You can
slice the track confidently where you want.

Bits and Bouncing

Both
of these topic may be huge to some, but I’ll throw them together in a short
section since Pro Tools is about to change both of these. Logic has been running in 64 bit, and has
offline bouncing. Pro Tools has been
stuck in 32, and you can only do real time bouncing. Let’s face it: for most, the difference
between 32 bit and 64 bit means nothing, so let’s move on.

I
love Logic’s offline bouncing. Sure there
is nothing wrong with a final quality control check of a realtime bounce, but
sometimes you just want that quick bounce.
As mentioned, Pro Tools 11 will have both offline bouncing and be
running in 64 bit. But now because of
this switch to 64 bit, all of the plugins you have been using for version 10
and previous go bye-bye. So Pro Tools
takes a hit there. For more information
about that, click
here.

Conclusion

There
are tons of things that can be discussed.
In an effort to not have you click away if you have not already, I’ll
sum it up:

For
MIDI and Music Composition: Logic Pro Wins

For
Audio Recording and Editing: Pro Tools Wins

Some
of you may disagree, and some may not agree with all of my opinions, and some
may think I left some important things out.
However, based off of my experience, and “stock for stock” (or directly
out of the box) performance, the above winning seems to be accurate. Whichever you think may be better may just depend
on which you have, or what you do in the audio world. So, which so you think is better?